Use of Water Reducers, Retarders, and Superplasticizers.

Introduction
Many important characteristics of concrete are influenced by the ratio (by weight) of
water to cementitious materials (w/cm) used in the mixture. By reducing the amount
of water, the cement paste will have higher density, which results in higher paste
quality. An increase in paste quality will yield higher compressive and flexural
strength, lower permeability, increase resistance to weathering, improve the bond of
concrete and reinforcement, reduce the volume change from drying and wetting, and
reduce shrinkage cracking tendencies (PCA, 1988).
Reducing the water content in a concrete mixture should be done in such a way so that
complete cement hydration process may take place and sufficient workability of
concrete is maintained for placement and consolidation during construction. The
w/cm needed for cement to complete its hydration process ranges from 0.22 to 0.25.
The existence of additional water in the mixture is needed for ease of concrete placing
and finishing (workability of concrete). Reducing the water content in a mixture may
result in a stiffer mixture, which reduces the workability and increases potential
placement problems.
Water reducers, retarders, and superplasticizers are admixtures for concrete, which
are added in order to reduce the water content in a mixture or to slow the setting rate
of the concrete while retaining the flowing properties of a concrete mixture.
Admixtures are used to modify the properties of concrete or mortar to make them
more suitable to work by hand or for other purposes such as saving mechanical
energy.

Water reducing admixtures (WRA)

The use of WRA is defined as Type A in ASTM C 494. WRA affects mainly the
fresh properties of concrete by reducing the amount of water used by 5% to 12%
while maintaining a certain level of consistency, measured by the slump as prescribed
in ASTM C 143-90. The use of WRA may accelerate or retard the initial setting time
of concrete. The WRA that retards the initial setting time more than three hours later
is classified as WRA with retarding effect (Type D). Commonly used WRA is
lignosulfonates and hydrocarboxylic (HC) acids. The use of HC acids as WRA
requires higher water content compared to the lignosulfonates. Rapid bleeding is a
problem for concrete treated with HC acids.
Increase of slump is different according to its type and dosage. Typical dosage rate is
based upon the cementitious material content (milliliters per hundred of kilograms).
The figure below illustrates the influence of dosage of Lignosulfonates and HC acid
on slump. It is shown in the figure that HC acids give a higher slump compared to
lignosulfonates with the same dosage.

Figure 1 Influence of Dosage of Retarders on Slump (Neville, 1995).

WRA has been used primarily in hot weather concrete placing, pumping, and tremie.
Careful concrete placement is required, as the initial setting time of concrete will take
place an hour earlier. It is also shown that the use of WRA will give a higher initial
concrete compressive strength (up to 28 days) by 10% compared to the control

mixture. Other benefit of using WRA is that higher concrete density is achieved which
makes the concrete less permeable and have a higher durability.

Superplasticizers (High Range Water reducer)

ASTM C494 Type F and Type G, High Range Water Reducer (HRWR) and retarding
admixtures are used to reduce the amount of water by 12% to 30% while maintaining
a certain level of consistency and workability (typically from 75 mm to 200 mm) and
to increase workability for reduction in w/cm ratio. The use of superplasticizers may
produce high strength concrete (compressive strength up to 22,000 psi).
Superplasticizers can also be utilized in producing flowing concrete used in a heavy
reinforced structure with inaccessible areas. Requirement for producing flowing
concrete is defined in ASTM C 1017. The effect of superplasticizers in concrete flow
is illustrated in the chart below:

Figure 3 Relation between Flow Table and Water Content of Concrete with and
without Plasticizers (Neville, 1995).
Another benefit of superplasticizers is concrete early strength enhancement (50 to
75%). The initial setting time may be accelerated up to an hour earlier or retarded to
be an hour later according to its chemical reaction. Retardation is sometimes
associated with range of cement particle between 4 30 m. The use of

superplasticizers does not significantly affect surface tension of water and does not
entrain a significant amount of air. The main disadvantage of superplasticizer usage is
loss of workability as a result of rapid slump loss and incompatibility of cement and
superplasticizers.
Superplasticizers are soluble macromolecules, which are hundreds of times larger than
water molecule (Gani, 1997). Mechanism of the superplasticizers is known as
adsorption by C3A, which breaks the agglomeration by repulsion of same charges and
releases entrapped water. The adsorption mechanism of superplasticizers is partially
different from the WRA. The difference relates to compatibility between Portland
Cement and superplasticizers. It is necessary to ensure that the superplasticizers do
not become fixed with C3A in cement particle, which will cause reduction in concrete
workability.
Typical dosage of superplasticizers used for increasing the workability of concrete
ranges from 1 to 3 liters per cubic meter of concrete where liquid superplasticizers
contained about 40 % of active material. In reducing the water cement ratio, higher
dosage is used, that is from 5 to 20 liters per cubic meter of concrete. Dosage needed
for a concrete mixture is unique and determined by the Marsh Cone Test.
There are four types of superplasticizers: sulfonated melamine, sulfonated
naphthalene, modified lignosulfonates and a combination of high dosages of water
reducing and accelerating admixtures. Commonly used are melamine based and
naphthalene based superplasticizers. The use of naphthalene based has the advantage
of retardation and affecst slump retention. This is due to the modified hydration
process by the sulfonates
Admixtures Dispensers
The basic function of a dispenser as defined in ACI Bulletin E4-95 is:

To transport the admixture from storage to batch

To measure the quantity of the admixtures required
To provide verification of the volume dispensed
To inject the admixture into the batch.

Admixtures have been dispensed in liquid form to ensure proper dispersion in the
concrete mixture. WRA should be dispensed with the last water batch. Proper timing
is very important, as any delay ranges between one to five minutes after the water
addition will result in excessive retardation of setting time. The Superplasticizers
should be dispensed on to the batch immediately before discharge for placement
(Type F) or with the last portion of the water (Type G).

References:
Chemical Admixtures for Concrete, ACI Committee 212.3R-91 Report.
Chemical and Air Entraining Admixtures for Concrete, ACI Education Bulletin No.
E4-95.
Dodson, Vance, Concrete Admixtures, VNR, 1990.
Gani, M.J., Cement and Concrete, Chapman & Hall, 1997.
Komatska, S. H. and Panarese, W. C., Design and Control of Concrete Mixtures,
PCA, 1988.
Ramachandran, V. S., Concrete Admixtures Handbook, Properties, Sciences, and
Technology, 2nd edition, 1995.
Aitcin, P., Jolicoeur, C., and MacGregor, J., Superplasticizers: How They Work and
Why They Occasionally Dont, Concrete international, May 1994.
Information compiled by Titin Handojo.